


Father's Day

by Spoiler1001



Series: Red string of love [4]
Category: Venom (Comics)
Genre: Anxiety, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Love, M/M, Married Couple, Married Life, True Love, unwanted invitations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 12:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17622167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoiler1001/pseuds/Spoiler1001
Summary: just the run of the mill Flash meets Carl. this is after the beautiful wedding and night on the boat.





	Father's Day

Days passed after they returned from the island. The rings on their fingers glowed in the light of the sunrise as they laid in bed. Flash had his head buried under Eddie's chin and could feel every breath and heartbeat. Breaths passed between the two peacefully, and they were wrapped around each other, both wide awake, just basking in each other.

 

Flash tilted his chin up to place a kiss on Eddie's neck.

 

“mine.” he jokingly whispered.

 

Eddie made a grunt and played with Flash’s hair. The reddish blond was soft and had soft curls grabbing his fingers.

 

“you're lucky our other likes to share with you.” Eddie laughed.

 

“I'm charming, we would have still tried.” Flash smiled.

 

“I’m sure,” Eddie said dryly. Flash pushed himself away to check his phone for the time.

 

“well, I have to get ready soon. First day back.” Flash sighed in discontent, not wanting to get up.

 

“I'll be here when you get back,” Eddie mumbled. “I finished all the articles I needed to.”

 

“Oh yeah how is that going by the way?” Flash put himself in his wheelchair and pushed himself towards his closet.

 

“you'll be amazed at how many newspapers will pay for an article on crime written by the person who solved it.” Eddie sighed. “high competition. More pay.”

 

“gonna make me jealous,” Flash mumbled.

 

“we both know you are a gym teacher because you want to be. To help people on both sides of the mask.” Eddie left the room. “because you are a goddamn hero.”

 

“I'm not.” Flash sighed and made his way towards the kitchen.

 

“Saved me.” Eddie smiled.

 

“We were friends at the time. That's what friends do.” Flash grabbed creamer for his coffee, along with chocolate syrup for the same reason.

 

“we're not friends anymore?” Eddie asked in mock hurt.

 

Flash looked up with a flat expression and extended his ring finger.

 

Eddie responded by laughing

* * *

 

Why the gym teachers also taught health was beyond Flash.

 

But he did his lessons all day.

 

The students were happy for him, some were rude.

 

They all left at the end of the day, their comments were gone with them. Flash packed his stuff into his bags and fidgeted with the ring on his finger with a smile.

 

“You seem happy.” a feminine voice rang out.

 

Flash looked up and grinned. “Well, it seems that I just needed to marry the right person.”

 

“well maybe there's hope for me.”  the speaker grinned.

 

“Well, Andi, there has to be hope for everyone.” Flash sighed and Andi plopped down into a chair next to Flash.

 

“So hopeful. Sounds like something Captain America would say.” Andi laughed.

 

“I stole the quote from him.” Flash grinned.

 

Andi chuckled. “So I never got to thank you for inviting my aunt and me to the wedding.”

 

“why wouldn't I? you're family.” Flash raised an eyebrow.

 

“yeah well my Dad’s family is coming up for the anniversary, so I'm not inclined to put the family on the forefront of reasons.” Andi crossed her arms on Flash’s desk, so her elbows faced inward. “they just seem to pour affection at me and it's not real. It's pity and-”

 

“You can't deal? Yeah, well Eddie and I are leaving for San Francisco this weekend and you can hide out in our apartment if you need to.” Flash finished packing and made his way towards the door. “I get how pity can be claustrophobic.”

 

Andi stood up and walked with him out of the school.

* * *

 

They had acquired a private plane for the trip. It was easy Flash was in good enough graces with people who had private planes that he was able to get Flash and Eddie to where they needed to be that weekend and back the next day. Eddie looked out the window hand covering his ring protectively. His beard groom well staying smooth and soft. His blue eyes were clouded with distant thought and his body was tense.

 

“What is it? I know what you're feeling.” Flash whispered and put his head on Eddie's shoulder. Eddie sighed and played with Flash's reddish blond hair, the curls catching on his fingers.

 

“I'm happy to see my sister. I don't like that  have to be anywhere near the ice monster that used roundabout logic to hate me.” Eddie mumbled into Flash's hair.

 

“I get it. We'll just avoid going anywhere near him.” Flash promised. “let's just spend the day with Mary. Don't think about it.”

 

“it's gonna be hard but, yeah. I can do it.” Eddie gave a small smile.

 

“see, that's the attitude I love.” Flash leaned over and placed a kiss on the bearded cheek, ignoring the tickling sensation. Eddie grabbed Flash's hand and played with the ring.

 

“Are you afraid Mary won’t like me?” Flash whispered.

 

“I know she will, it's just…” Eddie seemed at a loss for words. Mixed emotions flooded the bond.

 

“Anxious?” Flash asked. Eddie just nodded. “Well don’t worry. My charm can win over anyone.”

 

“is that the truth.” Eddie cracked more of a smile. Flash just gave a smile and pulled Eddie closer. Eddie closed his eyes and leaned into the warmth of his husband. The beard tickled Flash’s skin but he didn't mind. He just relaxed into the comforting heat.

 

“mine….” Flash whispered and grabbed Eddie's arm. Eddie just smirked and kissed Flash properly.

 

“Hey lovebirds. Prepare for landing. We're almost at San Francisco” the pilot shouted. Flash pulled away to strap himself into his seat.

 

He squeezed Eddie's hand and ran his thumb over Eddie's palm in comfort.

 

Mary was waiting by the airport. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was thin but not skeletal.

 

“Eddie! You look amazing. Love the lumberjack look.” Mary hugged her brother. Given his reaction, Flash could have guessed that she had the strength of 50 symbiotes. Flash laughed at the affection.

 

“it was my better parts that convinced me to keep it.” Eddie smiled and pulled away to gesture towards Flash, who gave Mary a grin and stuck out his hand for a handshake.

 

“Put that away. You're family!” Mary smiled and hugged Flash. The prosthetics Flash was using dug into his skin a little bit as he was hugged.

 

“please don't hurt him,” Mary whispered into his ear as Flash decided he was correct in his assessment and she gave very strong hugs.

 

“never,” Flash whispered as Mary pulled away.

 

“now where will you guys spend the night…?” Mary asked.

 

“An inn near the airport. We won't bother you too much.” Eddie smiled.

 

“You are not bothering me. I just wish we had more than two days.” Mary huffed.

 

“we'll come back during the summer.” Flash grinned.

 

“I'll hold you to that.” Mary laughed and lead (dragged) them towards the exit. “there's a restaurant you have to try.”

* * *

 

So much fried fish.

 

Flash had to laugh. With all the healthy food they try to eat, chocolate notwithstanding, they loved fried food. The food was fresh so flash could ignore the grease and oil. Eddie had a smile on his face and it made Flash's mood lighten even more than more than usual. Eddie looked over at his husband with bright blue eyes, smiling even without his mouth moving.

 

Mary talked about her recovery and getting back into the world and Eddie watched her carefully. She seemed energetic but fatigue still bore its claws. Her blue eyes were still bright with happiness.

 

She looked up for just a split second and all joy was sucked out. Her eyes paled and her skin drained of color.

 

“Oh son of a bitch,” she whispered and both men looked over to see what she was looking at.

 

Eddie froze hatred flashed through his body so quickly the smile froze on his face.

 

Flash set down the glass he was drinking from and look at the man who caused such a reaction.

 

He was a skeletal man, held together by malice and greed, a frown burned onto his face as time beat on it with wrinkles and patches of dry, scaly skin. The whites of his eyes were dyed yellow and it made the blue in his eyes look nauseatingly green. His teeth were perfect white, making his skin look gray. His hair was a white that bleached the area around it. He had a glare in his eyes as he regarded Eddie and dragged a chair to the desk, the metal scraping along the floor. A ten-year-old boy followed at his heels bright blond hair, but brown eyes separating himself from the other three, earplugs dangling from the collar of his shirt as he remained standing, while the elder sat down across from flash, the roundness of the table making him next to his eldest son and only daughter.

 

“I didn't realize you had the nerve to drag your sister to this kind of dump. I guess I am proven right about you, Edward.” the man spoke, a ghastly whisper pushed out of his throat as Eddie tensed up, a type of sadness leaked over to flash through the connection.

 

Flash had the gall to smile at the intruder. “hey, man, I get it, not your kind of restaurant. Hard to find one that sells the souls of children, but we were having a nice family dinner.”

 

“then why are you here?” the old man asked Flash with a glare.

 

“Ed? Can you go see if we can get a table with a better view? Things are a bit horrid here.” Flash kept his smile but now showed a bit more teeth.

 

The mental chant of a concerned ‘get out of here’ flashed in the back of his mind.

 

“Mary, would you like to join me?” Eddie asked a forced pleasant tone filled his voice.

 

“fuck no! Why would i-” Mary stage whispered, cutting herself off when Eddie gave her a pleading look.  “fine.” she huffed and stood up, walking towards the manager with Eddie on her heels.

 

Flash looked at the old man, with boredom in his eyes. The ten-year-old boy watched the two of them stare at each other with empty eyes.

 

“you should show me some respect.” the old man snarled. “I've served in the Vietnam war.”

 

“with all due respect Carl, F- bite me.” Flash sighed. “I served three tours in Iraq, lost friends and my legs.”

 

The old man chuckled.

 

“So you're Edwards what? Pity marriage?” Carl Brock raised an eyebrow. “pretty savior boy has to save one more person?”

 

Flash clenched his jaw so hard and so quick that it clicked. “You know nothing about my relationship with him.”

 

“Oh, well here's what I know. When my wife, my entire being for living, died I never recovered. It still haunts me, I never moved on. Eddie gets a new lover four years later.” Carl took a piece of Eddie's food and took a bite. “that leaves us two scenarios; either Anne wasn't a wanted part of his life and he cut her out, pushing her to make the decision”

 

Flash crushed the glass he had grabbed to take a sip in his hands at the implication. Red dripped onto the tablecloth as he blew air through his nose, his muscle tensing and his jaw locked tight. He looked up with green eyes icy with a fury so hot that it burned away the temper and made his blood run cold.

 

“the other being that he's just using you to make himself feel better.” The old man finished.

 

Flash grabbed the knife and squeezed, reopening his wound on his hand and making more blood pool up. “things aren't like that.” his voice was low, a growl setting in, rumbling in his chest.

 

“Oh? And you expect me to believe that you love a murderer?” Carl laughed. Flash could see Eddie looking at him, rubbing his own palm, concern obvious in his eyes. He looked at Dylan, who was watching the bloodstained knife.

 

“I love my husband.” Flash snapped.

 

“back in my day men like you didn't serve.” Carl snapped.

 

Flash laughed, disbelief mixing in with his voice.

 

“men like you stayed at camp while the others fought. I was on the battlefield, I saved people” flash leaned forward, hand still bloody and now resting on his cheek, getting blood on his cheek. The red mixed with his drink. “as to your theories, Anne made her own choice, Eddie. didn't. push. her.” every word took effort to get out as air pushed out of his lungs as he got tense and clenched his jaw even tighter, speaking through his teeth.

 

“not physically, but he did move on rather quickly.” Carl finally motioned for the boy to sit down. He did, leaning away from the bloody fluid.

 

“he had people to help him through it,” Flash growled.

 

“...even so, he brings bad luck to those who care for him, first his mother, then Anne. How long before we have to bury you?”

 

“Alright you son of a-” Flash stood up on his prosthetics and slammed his hands down onto the table, the glass digging more into his hands, he was only stopped by a large hand on his chest.

 

“Flash. Let it go. We're leaving. The restaurant is paying for our meal. I'm not worth this.” Eddie whispered in his ear.

 

“Well, you finally got something through your thick skull.” The man stood up and even though he was shorter than Eddie, Eddie seemed to cower.

 

Flash pushed through Eddie's grip and grabbed Carl Brock’s shirt and pulled him closer.

 

“You like to make yourself a big strong man. Like to make everyone else seem small and easy to crush.” Flash smiled angrily as his pseudosymbiote coated his eyes,  completely covering over them, blocking his pupil and iris. “but guess what?” Flash laughed. “I'm bigger, stronger and you're **_very_ **crushable.”

 

Eddie grabbed him again and gently pulled him back, snapping Flash back into reality. Flash let a hurt sound leave his throat as he let himself get pulled away.

 

“c'mon. Let's go to our hotel room. You don't have to do this.” Eddie sighed and led Flash out of the restaurant and kept rubbing his knuckles.

* * *

  


The hotel room was comfortable with one bed and a big shower. Flash had the prosthetics off and he laid on his stomach as Eddie played with the reddish hair. Flash stewed in his emotions, anger, and grief flowed around in his head with Eddie sending a little comfort through the link.

 

“he said horrible things about you. I couldn't just let-” flash huffed and cut himself off. “He was so cruel.”

 

“he always was. Don't worry about that.” Eddie wrapped his arms around Flash.

 

“But he had a kid. He's gonna be doing this to another kid.” Flash looked up with tears in his eyes. “my father-” his voice cracked. Eddie placed kisses on his shoulder, making Flash sigh and hold on to Eddie.

 

“I know. we’ll handle this. Just calm down.” Eddie whispered. Flash nodded.

 

“I love you.” He whispered, voice cracking.

 

“I know.” Eddie placed a soft kiss on the corner of Flash’s mouth.

 

“no, I'm sorry but I love you and I can't let him talk to or about you like that.” Flash pushed himself up.

 

“We can't do anything about it,” Eddie whispered.

 

“bullshit.” Flash snapped. “I can do something.”

 

“like what?” Eddie sighed tiredly. Flash just sighed and put his head in the crook of Eddie's neck.

 

“I get you're upset but please don't do anything you'll regret.” Eddie made a small sound in his throat. Flash just sighed and let tears of anger and frustration.

 

Eddie rubbed a hand over Flash's side and pulled him into a kiss. Flash hummed into it, but his hand stopping Eddie's right over his scar, the one he got from Norman stabbing him. Eddie sucked in a breath with a hiss.

 

“I get why he hated me if I lost you-” he whispered.

 

“Carl was using your mother as an excuse to hate you. She wasn't a person to him anymore.” Flash sighed and gripped Eddie's hand with one of his own and cradled Eddie's cheek with the other.

 

“You didn't deserve that. You deserve better than what he did. You are a hero. You deserve the best.” Flash kissed where the beard started on his cheek. “I'm sorry you went through that.” He placed another kiss on the other cheek. Eddie blushed a little bit as Flash began whispering every compliment he could think of in Eddie's ear followed by little kisses. Eddie pulled Flash away to look him in the eyes. The tear tracks were still wet on his face.

 

“well, I'm glad you think I'm so great.” Eddie smiled.

 

“I know,” Flash whispered and the symbiote sent out their agreement in Eddie's head and the link between the two men flooded with love and pure devotion. Eddie smiled even wider and pulled Flash in for a deep proper kiss.

* * *

 

Eddie crawled out from out from under the covers of the bed of the hotel room. After the symbiote morphed into clothes he grabbed his cellphone, only to see some text messages all from his sister about the child at his father's side. Some talked about how that mother left the father with the kid and how he's a b student, no sports in school, just a kid living his life. He didn't seem like a trouble maker. Then a new text came up just asking to meet Eddie at a cafe near the house.

 

He responded back an affirmative and walked over to Flash, still drowsy and his eyes were still closed.

 

“Hey. Feeling better?” Eddie whispered and grabbed Flash's hand. Flash turned his head and nodded, swallowing thickly.

 

“Good. Listen, I have to head out. I'll be right back, ok.” Eddie whispered and flash gave him a smile. Eddie kissed Flash’s knuckle in goodbye and left as flash drifted off to sleep.

 

Finding the cafe was easy. He used to go there after school when he was in high school.

 

Mary sat near a table with the kid that was following around their father. Eddie could see shared traits between them, same nose, same blond hair, the only difference was that while Eddie and Mary had bright expressive blue eyes, this kid had empty brown eyes. No, not empty, just devoid of hope.

 

Eddie sat down at the table and sighed. “ok why are we here.”

 

The boy raised an eyebrow, “we?”

 

Mary just shook her head. “long story. Just tell him what you told me.”

 

The kid sighed and hugged himself. “our dad, he's cold and he made my mom leave.”

 

“how did he do that?” Eddie asked.

 

“filed for divorce and claimed she couldn't take care of me, now I'm not his son, I'm my mom's. I can't even call her.” the kid cried, wiping tears away from his eyes. “I just want to see my mom.”

 

“Hey, hey, hey, kid.” Eddie sighed. “look I get it, But I can't just up and take you to her. He's an ice-blooded monster with a need to control everything.”

 

“I just want to call her. And I'm not ‘kid’. name’s Dylan.” The kid, Dylan, sighed.

 

“why can't you do that at home?” Eddie asked, already halfway knowing the answer.

 

“he'll cut me off from everything.” Dylan sighed.

 

“Alright, I'll let you use my phone. Make your call.” Eddie gave his younger brother the cell phone.

 

“really? a burner?” Mary asked bringing a little bit of joy to the situation.

 

“Just be happy I texted an answer to you.” Eddie buried his face in his hands.

* * *

  


Flash was watching some sports movies in the hotel room and ate some chocolate pudding he acquired somewhere when Eddie came back. The symbiote had somehow transformed into a tank top in the Californian sun showing off freckles on his shoulders.

 

“Hey. You're back. How did things go.” Flash smiled at him and took a drink from a can of soda.

 

“I just pissed off my father royally.” Eddie sighed.

 

“oh congratulations” flash chuckled. “what did you do?”

 

“walked Dylan, that kid with father at the place we ate earlier, home when his mother was yelling at father over the phone.” Eddie sighed and faceplants on the bed. “I think she's gonna try for custody.”

 

“Good for the kid.” Flash rolled over and played with the hair on Eddie's beard.

 

“how are you feeling?” Flash whispered and put his head near Eddie’s.

 

“tired. What time is it?” Eddie mumbled.

 

“Just after 3.”

 

“oh ok. We have to meet Mary at the mall at six, something about wanting to get to know you a bit more.” Eddie sighed. “I need a nap.”

 

Flash smiled and kissed Eddie's cheek. “take one I’ll make sure we’re where we need to be.”

 

Eddie fell asleep wrapped around Flash, with the symbiote tying them together.

  


Andi was sleeping on the couch Sunday night when the two men returned. Her spiky hair was tangled with sleep and her symbiote wrapped around her. Flash smiled as Andi briefly woke up to say hi but immediately went back to sleep.

 

“Andi's a good kid,” Eddie whispered to keep from waking her up while they unpacked.

 

“which is why I trusted her to watch the apartment without us.” Flash smiled.

 

“Do you think she would be ready if we were ever able to retire, she would be a good hero,” Eddie crawled into the bed and Flash followed head against Eddie's chest.

 

“she may be one of the best.”


End file.
